Fastening apparatus for ostomy appliances

ABSTRACT

A fastening apparatus for securing ostomy appliances which apparatus includes a belt and fastening elements provided with structure for releasably securing, at an ostomy site, a rigid base gasket and an expendable retainer gasket and attached pouch, to retain the base gasket in place during removal and replacement of the expendable retainer gasket and pouch.

Stes

Barrett et al.

1 Mar. 11, 1975 FASTENING APPARATUS FOR OSTOMY APPLIANCES Inventors: Donald Dean Barrett, Palos Hills;

Kenneth R. Whalen, Worth; Charles Nichols, Arlington Heights; Robert G. Knapp, Wheaton; Jay A. Wickum, Westmont; Daniel A. Maust, Winfield, all of 111.

Marsan Manufacturing Company, Inc., Wausau, Wis.

Filed: Aug. 20, 1973 Appl. N0.: 389,925

Related US. Application Data Division of Ser. No. 307,936, Nov. 20, 1972, Pat. No. 3,789,846, which is a continuation of Ser. No. 105,286, Jan. 11, 1971, abandoned.

Assignee:

U.S. Cl. 24/81 AG, 128/283 Int. Cl. A611 5/44, A44b 21/00 Field of Search ..24/3 A, 153 S, 81 AG,

24/255 SL, 73 B6, 263 PJ, 263 LL, 90 W, 24/153.1; 128/283 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,139,942 5/1915 Wightman et al. 24/3 A 1,233,983 7/1917 Clark 24/153 S 1,359,606 11/1920 Knoch 24/153 S UX 2,176,052 10/1939 Beyer 24/3 A UX 2,888,055 5/1959 Dingman 24/l53.1 UX 3,461,876 8/1969 Miller 24/255 SL UX Primary ExaminerDonald A. Griffin Attorney, Agent, or FirmMerriam, Marshall, Shapiro & Klose [57] ABSTRACT A fastening apparatus for securing ostomy appliances which apparatus includes a belt and fastening elements provided with structure for releasably securing, at an ostomy site, a rigid base gasket and an expendable retainer gasket and attached pouch, to retain the base gasket in place during removal and replacement of the expendable retainer gasket and pouch.

5 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures FASTENING APPARATUS FOR OSTOMY APPLIANCES CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This is a division of our Ser. No. 307,936 filed Nov. 20, 1972, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,789,846 issued Feb.4, 1974, which was a continuation of our copending application Ser. No. 105,286, filed Jan. 11, 1971, and now abandoned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to fastening apparatus for securing waste material collecting appliances to the bodies of patients who have undergone surgical drainage procedures such as colostomies, ileostomies, urinary diversions, or the like. While reference will hereinafter be made to the use of the fastening apparatus of the invention with colostomy appliances, it will be understood that the apparatus is equally susceptible to use with other ostomy appliances.

If a colostomy procedure is to be fully effective and beneficial to a particular patient, appropriate postsurgical apparatus and procedures must be provided for the sanitary, convenient and esthetically acceptable collection and removal of waste material from the colostomy site. To this effect devices such as those shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,483,869, have been developed. Such devices include relatively rigid, base gaskets which are positioned immediately adjacent the colostomy site and which are employed in conjunction with expendable pouches attached to retainer gaskets.

Employment of such devices anticipates the collection of wastes in the expendable pouch followed by the periodic removal of the used pouch and attached retainer gasket and replacement with a new, empty pouch. During this removal and replacement procedure it is most advantageous that the base gasket be retained, undisturbed, in its position at the colostomy site in order to avoid needless pain to the patient and possible contamination of the colostomy site. However, achievement of this desirable advantage has to a great extent been frustrated because of the use of conventional fastening apparatus for securing the colostomy device to the body of the patient.

Fastening apparatus heretofore provided for so securing colostomy appliances has included an expandable elastic belt having spring-action metal buckles. These buckles releasably secured both the base gasket and retainer gasket of the appliance by slots provided in flanges on the gaskets. With such buckles, release of the retainer gasket will necessarily be accompanied by release of the base gasket from a secured position. The release of one flange of the base gasket before the release of another causes a displacing pull on the base gasket by the remaining secured portion or portions of the elastic belt. Thus, in order to allow only the minimum displacement of the base gasket during release and removal of the pouch and retainer gasket, the difficult manipulative procedure of simultaneously disengaging all securing buckles must be performed: Further. since the base gasket is thereafter unsecured, great care must be exercised in removing the used pouch and retainer gasket and in positioning a new pouch and retainer gasket. Then if displacement of the base gasket is to be avoided, the even more difficult manipulative procedure of simultaneously re-engaging all securing buckles must be performed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides fastening apparatus for securing colostomy appliances which permits removal and replacement of expendable pouches and retainer gaskets without displacing or disturbing the base gasket of the appliance. One embodiment of the invention includes fastener elements having structure for re leasably securing a base gasket and a retainer gasket of a colostomy appliance and for retaining the base gasket in place during the release and subsequent removal and replacement of the retainer gasket and attached pouch.

Another aspect of the invention includes providing such fasteners of an economical unitary molded plastic construction.

Further aspects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof, reference being made to the following drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 shows a colostomy appliance secured to the body of a patient by apparatus constituting an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of an embodiment of a fastener element of the invention.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 2, rotated through FIG. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view of the apparatus, showing the relation of an unsecured colostomy appliance thereto.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary view of one of the fastener elements of the embodiment of FIG. 4, with the flange of a colostomy appliance base gasket in secured position and retainer gasket about to be secured.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary view of one of the fastener elements of the embodiment of FIG. 4, with flanges of both the base and retainer gaskets of a colostomy appliance in secured position.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring first to FIG. 1, an embodiment 10 of the fastening apparatus of the invention secures a colostomy appliance 11 to the body of a patient. Belt 12 cooperates with fastener elements 13, 13 to perform this function.

Belt 12 is preferably of an expandable, elastic type and may be provided with movable buckling means 14 for adjusting the length of the belt to the girth of the patient.

A single fastening element 13, constructed according to the present invention is shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. Referring also to FIG. 4, the body of the fastener element 13 has recessed portion 15 for accommodating a pair of superimposed flange portions, one flange portion 220 of a colostomy appliance base gasket 22 and another flange portion 23a of a retainer gasket 23.

Extending outwardly from recess 15 is a projection 16, having lip 16a, and hingedly affixed to projection 16 is a tongue 17. Projection 16, lip 16a and tongue 17 are receivable through a slot 22b in base gasket flange 22a (FIG. 5) and slot 23b in retainer gasket flange 23a (FIG. 6). Tongue 17 is provided with a slot 18 interme diate the body of the tongue and the tongue preferably has a serrated surface 19 to facilitate gripping.

The body of the fastener element 13 is further provided with a hook-like projection 20 (FIGS. 5 and 6) receivable through slot 18 of tongue 17 for releasably securing the tongue in a close position. A slot 21 in element 13 receives belt 12 therethrough to connect element 13 to the belt.

Fastener element 13 is preferably constructed of an economical, unitary molded plastic material. Polypropylene is an exceptionally suitable material for this purpose because it is durable yet sufficiently flexible to allow repeated hinged'movement of tongue 17 about projection 16 and to allow resilient movement of hooklike projection 20 through slot 18 to releasably secure tongue 17 in a closed position.

FIG. 4 illustrates the cooperative relationship of a pair of fastener elements 13, 13 with a rigid base gasket 22 and a flexible retainer gasket 23 of a colostomy appliance 11. Tongues 17, 17 are shown in upright, open positions receiving'the two gaskets as they are initially applied to the patients body.

FIG. 5 shows rigid base gasket 22 secured by fastener element 13 with hinged tongue 17 in an upright position. In reaching this position, slot 22b on flange 22a of base gasket 22 has been passed over upright tongue 17 and projection 16, down into recess 15. As this operation takes place with respect to opposite flanges 22a, 22a (FIG. 4) of base gasket 22, tension from belt 12 urges fastener elements 13, 13 outwardly from base gasket 22, thus moving lip 16a of projection 16 over flange 22a thereby securing the latter in place.

FIG. 6 shows both rigid base gasket 22 and retainer gasket 23 in a secured position with hinged tongue 17 moved downward to a closed position. Once base gasket 22 is secured as described above, retainer gasket 23 is positioned by passing slot 23b of flange 23a over upright tongue 17 and projection 16, down into recess atop base gasket 22. Once retainer gasket 23 is in place, hinged tongue 17 is pivoted downwardly from it upright position and is releasably secured or locked in its closed position by hook-like element 20 extending through slot 18.

While it is preferable that retainer gasket 23 be secured under lip 16a of projection 16 as shown, it is not necessary because the retainer gasket may be held in place by hinged tongue 17 alone when the latter is pivoted to its closed position.

In practice, once rigid base gasket 22 has been initially positioned, it will remain thusly secured during replacement of expendable retainer gaskets and attached pouches. The unlocking of hinged tongue 17 by pivoting it to its upright position (FIG. 5) and the removal of retainer gasket 23 will not distrub base gasket 22 in its secured position under lip 16a of projection 16. Likewise, positioning a new retainer gasket 23 and pivoting tongue 17 downwardly to its closed position will not disturb base gasket 22.

Obviously, modifications and variations of the abovedescribed invention may be made without departing from the spirit and scope thereof. Therefore, only such limitations as are indicated in the appended claims shall be placed thereon.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for releasably securing, in substantially superimposed relation, a pair of objects each having at least two laterally opposed openings spaced apart the same distance on each object, said apparatus comprismeans mounting said two objects in superimposed relation;

at least two fastening means, each for releasably securing said two objects through and about one of said openings in each object when the objects are in superimposed relation, each of said fastening means including means cooperative with the corresponding means of the other for retaining one of said objects in a secured position during release, removal and replacement of the other object; and, belt means interconnecting said fastening means.

2. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein said belt means is of expandable elastic material.

3. Apparatus for releasably securing, in substantially superimposed relation, a pair of objects each having at least two laterally opposed openings spaced apart at the same distance on each object, said apparatus comprismeans mounting said two objects in superimposed relation; and,

at least two fastening means, each for releasably securing said two objects through and about one of said openings in each object when the objects are in superimposed relation, each of said fastening means including means cooperative with the corresponding means of the other for retaining one of said objects in a secured position during release, removal and replacement of the other object and each comprising,

a body having recess means for receiving a portion of the object to be retained, which portion is adjacent one of the openings therein,

a projection on said body extending outwardly from said recess means and extendable through an opening in each of said objects to be secured, lip means on said projection for retaining the object to be retained in said recess means,

a slotted tongue hingedly affixed to said projection and extendable through an opening in each of said objects to be secured, and, hook means on said body for releasably securing said slotted tongue.

4. Apparatus as set forth in claim 3 wherein said fastening elements are of molded plastic material construction.

5. Apparatus as set forth in claim 4 wherein said plastic material is polypropylene. 

1. Apparatus for releasably securing, in substantially superimposed relation, a pair of objects each having at least two laterally opposed openings spaced apart the same distance on each object, said apparatus comprising: means mounting said two objects in superimposed relation; at least two fastening means, each for releasably securing said two objects through and about one of said openings in each object when the objects are in superimposed relation, each of said fastening means including means cooperative with the corresponding means of the other for retaining one of said objects in a secured position during release, removal and replacement of the other object; and, belt means interconnecting said fastening means.
 1. Apparatus for releasably securing, in substantially superimposed relation, a pair of objects each having at least two laterally opposed openings spaced apart the same distance on each object, said apparatus comprising: means mounting said two objects in superimposed relation; at least two fastening means, each for releasably securing said two objects through and about one of said openings in each object when the objects are in superimposed relation, each of said fastening means including means cooperative with the corresponding means of the other for retaining one of said objects in a secured position during release, removal and replacement of the other object; and, belt means interconnecting said fastening means.
 2. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein said belt means is of expandable elastic material.
 3. Apparatus for releasably securing, in substantially superimposed relation, a pair of objects each having at least two laterally opposed openings spaced apart at the same distance on each object, said apparatus cOmprising: means mounting said two objects in superimposed relation; and, at least two fastening means, each for releasably securing said two objects through and about one of said openings in each object when the objects are in superimposed relation, each of said fastening means including means cooperative with the corresponding means of the other for retaining one of said objects in a secured position during release, removal and replacement of the other object and each comprising, a body having recess means for receiving a portion of the object to be retained, which portion is adjacent one of the openings therein, a projection on said body extending outwardly from said recess means and extendable through an opening in each of said objects to be secured, lip means on said projection for retaining the object to be retained in said recess means, a slotted tongue hingedly affixed to said projection and extendable through an opening in each of said objects to be secured, and, hook means on said body for releasably securing said slotted tongue.
 4. Apparatus as set forth in claim 3 wherein said fastening elements are of molded plastic material construction. 